One Body & One Spirit
Annual Appeal
Contribute to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles’ One Body & One Spirit Annual Appeal
Annual Appeal
When are applications due for the next round of grants?
April 26, 2024
The waiting area for homeless clients using showers and other services at St. Luke’s / San Lucas Church, Long Beach, lacks amenities such as seats and shade; a situation that will be improved with help from a diocesan annual appeal grant. Photos: St. Luke’s, Long Beach
St. Luke’s, Long Beach, will provide more comfort and service for unhoused neighbors, thanks to annual appeal grant
By Antonio Gallardo
For more than 20 years St. Luke’s / San Lucas, Long Beach, has offered the Shower Program to provide relief to our unhoused neighbors. Four Saturdays a month, with the help of volunteers from all walks of life, we offer showers and clean clothes to approximately 125 people. Also, thanks to the support of other faith communities, we provide a hot meal on Saturdays. Every year, the program offers over 3,900 showers, and serves over 6,500 meals.
In addressing other immediate needs, we also offer an area for our unhoused guests to safely store their belongings and charge their phones while other services are given. We also partner with other volunteers to provide complementary services: barbers on the first Saturday of the month, a dental hygienist on the second Saturday, and weekly visits from staff from the City of Long Beach’s Multiservice Center to refer the unhoused to services, among others.
We are constantly trying to make the time our unhoused guests spend with us a more pleasant respite from the streets. The current wait area is old and tired, does not provide comfortable seating, and is mostly cement. We believe not only that the unhoused deserve a more beautiful place, but we also think that a more welcoming and comfortable place will result into a less stressful time for the unhoused and the volunteers.
Beautification of the space, proper seating, shade, and better use of the space are our goals. We estimate a budget of $15,000 to complete this project, and the One Body & One Spirit grant in the amount of $5,000 has certainly helped us to complete the funds we needed. We have received a $5,000 grant from Amazon for this purpose, and one of our co-leads of the shower program, Gail Mutke, recently received an award of $5,000 from Molina Health as a 2024 Community Champion. Gail has donated the award money to complete the funding for this project.
We are on our way to providing our unhoused siblings with an even better experience at St. Luke’s.
The Rev. Antonio Gallardo is rector of St. Luke’s / San Lucas Church, Long Beach.
The diocesan grant will be augmented by other funding sources, including a $5,000 award from Molina Health presented to parishioner and shower program lead Gail Mutke, who has directed the funds to the St. Luke’s project.
Launched as an emergency appeal during COVID, the Annual Appeal isn’t just for emergencies anymore. It’s for anything a church or institution needs that isn’t covered by the budget. Every dollar received goes back out the door in a grant. Since 2020, the Corporation of the Diocese has made 70 grants to 56 congregations, institutions, and ministries.
Please join the 246 donors who, to date, have raised $350,392 in 442 gifts to the 2022-24 One Body & One Spirit Annual Appeal, through which the Corporation of the Diocese makes grants to congregations and institutions seeking to meet unbudgeted expenses – from repairing a roof to sheltering unhoused neighbors – or any aspect of the corporate life of your church or institution. Click the links above to make a gift or download a grant application packet.
Application deadline for the next grant cycle is May 1, 2024, for awards to be made in June.
To all donors, thank you! And to all who are considering a gift, please follow the link to contribute today.
Please join in giving generously to the
One Body & One Spirit Annual Appeal.
Our mailing address for checks made payable to
Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is:
Bishop John Harvey Taylor c/o the Rev. Susan Stanton, CFO
Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
St. Paul’s Commons
840 Echo Park Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90026